A bit of common sense

[doodab]

Retailer calls rivals' bluff on "HDMI scam" | News | PC Pro

John Lewis and Currys-parent DSGi denied the upselling claims, saying they helped customers buy the "right" cable.
"We sell a large range of HDMI cables with different specifications and prices tailored to our customers' needs," said a spokeswoman for DSGi's retail arm. "Our entry level HDMI cable is currently on sale at £7.99 and our most expensive cable is at £100.99."
"In the rapidly changing technologies that surround TV we have highly trained staff in store to guide customers to making the right choice for their TV," she claimed. "It's not just about the quality of signal and image that HDMI cables can provide, particularly in higher-end televisions, it is also about the protection from interference and the long-time durability of the cables."

We all know the "highly trained" oiks they are talking about, although John Lewis are better IMO. Anyway, this new Aussie mob called kogan will give you a cable for free if you have a proof of purchase of a TV from Currys or JL.

"An HDMI cable is an HDMI cable," Kogan added. "It's a digital cable. You either get a picture or you don't. Don't get conned into buying a 'fancy' HDMI cable because it will make no difference!"

Fair play to them. But what is next? Will they take on the ridiculous audio leads and gadget market? What about those hilariously overpriced mains leads? I don't think you can actually stop really stupid people from blowing vast amount of cash TBH, people have been trying to tell them the error of their ways for years.

[Lockhouse]

I always thought that with HDMI cables quality of shielding and contacts does matter. I thought the only cables that were truly digital and where price is irrelevant were optical hi-fi cables.

[Spacecadet]

I always thought that with HDMI cables quality of shielding and contacts does matter. I thought the only cables that were truly digital and where price is irrelevant were optical hi-fi cables.

I don't think that HDMI are truely digital, but the same principles apply i.e. its a completely coded signal (which I think it has to be for DRM purposes) which is either decoded into a good picture or not at all

[Mason Boyne]

<sharp intake of breath>You don't want oxygen in yer cables, oh no! That is one thing you don't need!</sharp intake of breath>


What you need is pure gold extruded through a virgin hamsters chuff, cables, them's the bollocks of the dog!

[doodab]

I always thought that with HDMI cables quality of shielding and contacts does matter. I thought the only cables that were truly digital and where price is irrelevant were optical hi-fi cables.

A digital signal is a digital signal, whether it's transmitted optically or electrically doesn't matter as long as the bits get from A to B uncorrupted. Any cable that meets the relevant specs should do be able to do the job. It might be that some exceptionally cheap tulipty cables don't actually meet the required specs but if you have a cable that does there is nothing else the cable can do that will make any further difference.

[PAH]

The only aspect I can think of that would affect HDMI and the digital signal is if cheaper cables cause more error correction needed per frame. Reasons could be poor materials, design, or shielding.

Not sure how robust the handling of the signal is by the receiving device (e.g. TV) conforming to the HDMI standard to ensure pictures remain uncorrupted without dropped frames or digital artifacts/noise from not being able to resolve error correction properly in the timescale allowed.

I imagine in the worst cases (where a picture is obtainable at all) that it may look like those dodgy ITV Digital pictures you got when something was interferring with the signal quality.

So the quality of the cable may well be a factor, though I think the threshold will be under a tenner and not the 100 quid gold plated cables some outlets try to sell to unsupecting customers.

[doodab]

There are some differences between HDMI cables because there are two "categories" called standard and high speed (c.f. cat 5 and cat 6 network cables), the high speed ones have sufficient bandwidth for 1080p and higher resolutions, standard ones aren't guaranteed to work above 720p.

A 2m cable meeting the high speed with ethernet specs (i.e. does everything that needs to be done) costs about £5. The only reason to spend more is if you require a longer cable or a flat one or something. Very long ones might be a bit more expensive because they do actually need thicker copper conductors in them to keep the bandwidth within spec, but even so 15m shouldn't be costing £100.

[doodab]

I don't think that HDMI are truely digital, but the same principles apply i.e. its a completely coded signal (which I think it has to be for DRM purposes) which is either decoded into a good picture or not at all

It's purely digital, there is nothing analogue in there at all.

There is error correction up to a point, but if the error rate exceeds the capabilities of the error correction then you get a mangled picture. It is not going to be gradual degradation though, it's going to be like when you get interference on digital telly because whole blocks of data have gone missing.

[PinkPoshRat]

A digital signal is a digital signal, whether it's transmitted optically or electrically doesn't matter as long as the bits get from A to B uncorrupted. Any cable that meets the relevant specs should do be able to do the job. It might be that some exceptionally cheap tulipty cables don't actually meet the required specs but if you have a cable that does there is nothing else the cable can do that will make any further difference.

At last, a subject I know (a Tonmeister girl here)

It is a complete farce all this nonsense with HDMIs. There is no difference other than the 'quality' of the plastic leads and the metal compounds used. I shall spare you from a long and boring lecture.


The other farcical scam is digital aerials. So many people are being told that they won't get digital tv unless they upgrade to a digital aerial - completely wrong again.

[SueEllen]

The other farcical scam is digital aerials. So many people are being told that they won't get digital tv unless they upgrade to a digital aerial - completely wrong again.

I think Watchdog or some other consumer program revealed that scam a couple of years back as they were conning mostly the elderly.